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With its sleek brown interior and a lighted tree in the center of the room, the month-old Hollywood nightclub Central has generated enough buzz for a bevy of Gossip Girls. CHACE CRAWFORD and LEIGHTON MEESTER hold court at corner tables whenever they hit L.A. SCARLETT JOHANSSON, EMILE HIRSCH and VINCE VAUGHN have also turned up at the trendy Hollywood haunt, known for its signature drink, the Refresh (ingredients: gin, muddled cucumber, dill, fresh lime juice and tonic water). The luxe lounge, which serves caviar and oysters from its sister establishment and L.A. nightlife staple Parc, has also gotten The Hills' seal of approval: LAUREN CONRAD recently smooched her former flame STEPHEN COLLETTI on the club's dance floor.

RYDER'S WILD PARTY
RYDER RUSSELL ROBINSON's fourth birthday was for the birds—and goats and llamas. Mom KATE HUDSON (Dad is rocker CHRIS ROBINSON) set up a petting zoo at their L.A. home Jan. 13. "The little man was running around the backyard screaming and laughing," says a source. "The kids went nuts for that. It was so great of her to think of it." The next night the pair hit Taverna Tony restaurant in Malibu for another birthday get-together for the daughter of Hudson's pal (featuring a naughty message, left, which the actress didn't bring). The festivities almost turned into a surprise party: Hudson's ex, OWEN WILSON, showed up with five friends at the eatery just 20 minutes after she left.

FAST TAKES

NICK LACHEY and VANESSA MINNILLO were at Noir Bar in Las Vegas Jan. 11., where she sampled peanut-butter-and-jelly martinis. The next day the couple holed up with 10 pals at the Wynn Race and Sports Book....

Expect to see GOA in the next season of The Hills—cast members were there filming Jan. 10 until 1:30 in the morning. Also spotted: AUDRINA PATRIDGE with a new beau (buh-bye, Justin Bobby!)....

MATTHEW PERRY grabbed a low-key dinner with two friends at the Tower Bar at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood Jan. 11. Says an onlooker: "He looked really healthy—and hot!"